Responsibility for monitoring and co-ordinating the management of child abuse cases rests with the health boards as part of their statutory responsibilities under the Child Care Act, 1991.
The procedures followed by health boards in investigating alleged cases of child abuse are in accordance with the child abuse guidelines issued by my Department in 1987 and the 1995 procedures for the notification of suspected cases of child abuse between health boards and the Garda. I recently established a working group to review existing guidelines and to prepare revised guidelines aimed at improving the identification, investigation and management of child abuse. The working group, which is representative of all the relevant interested parties, held its first meeting this week and is due to report to me within a year.
As the Deputy is aware, the number of reported cases of child abuse has increased steadily over the past eight years. For example, in 1987 the Eastern Health Board received 793 reports of child abuse whereas the figure for 1996 was more than 2,300. This has led to a system of prioritisation whereby the most urgent cases are handled first. The Eastern Health Board has assured me that all cases requiring an urgent response are dealt with without delay.
In other cases an initial assessment is undertaken and reports may also be required from other agencies, including child abuse assessment units or child psychiatric services, before a decision about the appropriate type of intervention can be made.
The Eastern Health Board is currently engaged in a number of strategic initiatives which will result in a standardised approach to assessment procedures, a definition of case priorities, estimating need and the determination of closure criteria.
